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A new report has claimed TikTok is working on a clone of its recommendation algorithm for its 170 million U.S. users. This could result in a version that operates independently of its Chinese parent company ByteDance<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Reuters writes<\/a> that they\u2019ve spoken with anonymous sources who said that \u201conce the code is split, it could lay the groundwork for a divestiture of the U.S. assets, although there are no current plans to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n The plan to split the code was reportedly in the works last year, predating the bill that will force a sale of TikTok\u2019s U.S. operations <\/a>due to national security concerns due to Chinese ownership and its links to the Beijing government. The bill was signed into law in April of this year.<\/p>\n While the Chinese-owned app initially declined to comment on the article, they then took to X after the story was published. In response, they wrote: \u201cThe Reuters story published today is misleading and factually inaccurate.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we said in our court filing, the \u2018qualified divestiture\u2019 demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally. And certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act.\u201d<\/p>\n The Reuters story published today is misleading and factually inaccurate. As we said in our court filing, the ‘qualified divestiture’ demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not\u2026<\/p>\n \u2014 TikTok Policy (@TikTokPolicy) May 30, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Reuters then updated their article and a spokesperson said: \u201cWe stand by our reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n In the original report, sources explain how engineers at ByteDance and TikTok<\/a> have been busy over the last few months as they were \u201cordered to begin separating millions of lines of code, sifting through the company\u2019s algorithm that pairs users with videos to their liking.\u201d<\/p>\n The aim is reportedly to create a separate code base that is independent of systems used by ByteDance\u2019s Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, whilst removing any information linking to Chinese users.<\/p>\n Two sources familiar with the project estimate it\u2019ll take over a year to complete.<\/p>\n Featured Image: Via Ideogram<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
\u2018Ordered to begin separating millions of lines of code\u2026\u2019<\/b><\/h2>\n